Various facilities, such as retail stores, warehouses and the like, may contain significant numbers of objects (e.g. retail products, packages, etc.). Conducting an inventory check, for example to collect an accurate listing of which objects are present in the facility and their location within the facility, is often a task performed manually by one or more staff members of the facility. However, manual inventory checking is time-consuming and error-prone process. Certain systems therefore employ radio frequency identification (RFID) tags affixed to each of the objects in a facility, permitting an RFID reader to detect which objects are present. Such RFID-based systems, however, may require substantial investment in infrastructure, and may also be prone to interference (e.g. from physical obstructions in the facility, from interfering wireless transmissions, and the like) that introduces errors into the inventory checking process.
Skilled artisans will appreciate that elements in the figures are illustrated for simplicity and clarity and have not necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements in the figures may be exaggerated relative to other elements to help to improve understanding of embodiments of the present invention.
The apparatus and method components have been represented where appropriate by conventional symbols in the drawings, showing only those specific details that are pertinent to understanding the embodiments of the present invention so as not to obscure the disclosure with details that will be readily apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art having the benefit of the description herein.